Let's not get bogged down in semantics. This may be a case where an
analogy to sysop is neither needed nor helpful. After all, judges under
certain circumstances have a lot of power, and police often listen to
different sides in a dispute, act as mediators, and are themselves
policed. If we continue on this track we may end up having a very
interesting and informative conversation about the differences between
police, judges, and I would then add to the mix constables. But if we are
having a discussion as sysop, I have three comments.
1) I never sought out the position of sysop but given that it implied a
certain amount of trust by a segment of the community I didn't feel I could
turn it down. When I first saw my new screen, with all the powers suddenly
at my disposal, I really felt overwhelmed, almost dizzy. Of course my
first act was to abuse the power -- although I was the only victim of that
abuse. I have recently had an experience where I have been sorely tempted
to put a block on a page and ban a user. Obviously I did not. But -- and
I realize this may be of little interest to most of you -- so far I see
being a sysop as a sort of zen exercise in accepting and renouncing power.
2) But I have also deleted a couple of pages, and I know some others have
been very active in this. I wanted to ban one user with what I thought was
good cause, and someone else did it the next day. Since virtually everyone
in the community saw that person as a pest more than as a member of the
community, I'd say -- if we really must have an analogy -- I'd compare
sysop to house-cleaner.
3) Whether sysop is a mop or a cop, either way I see the role as being an
agent of the community. If I understand the deal right now, there is
virtually nothing a sysop can do that cannot be undone by another
administrator; it seems to me that virtually all sysops, if they ever act,
do so when they have a sense from the community.
Anyway, aside from my periodic zen moments, it does seem to me that the job
is mostly about tidying up. It seems to me that anyone can do this on a
limited basis (by editing -- just like we don't expect the maid or
custodian to do all cleaning), and that the other tasks (e.g. cultivating
NPOV) really are for the whole community, sysop or not.
Steve
At 11:10 AM 5/23/2003 -0700, you wrote:
--- Daniel Ehrenberg <littledanehren(a)yahoo.com>
wrote:
I guess a sysop is more like a judge. I don't
think it
is fair to say that sysops are a police force. Being a
policeman (or woman) implies doing something
compulsively, without consent, as opposed to someone
more like a judge, who consents all involved parties
as well as the rules/laws, the previous precedents,
and the jury (in this case the Wikipedia community).
If sysops are going to consider themselves judges, we're going to
have serious long-term problems.
I for one prefer the Jimbo-as-judge, everybody else enforce his
decisions, either through force (police==sysop) or persuasion
(coaching==caring user).
Otherwise we'll run into the situation of he-said she-said.
=====
Christopher Mahan
chris_mahan(a)yahoo.com
818.943.1850 cell
http://www.christophermahan.com/
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